The Falk Corporation, 3001 W. Canal St., is getting back to business as usual nearly eight weeks after an early morning explosion rocked the gear manufacturing plant.

As of Jan. 8, 750 Falk employees had returned to work. They had received pay and benefits while the factory was closed.

Almost immediately after the Dec. 6 blast, an investigation into the accident was launched.

According to Brian Knox, spokesman for Rexnord Industries LLC, Falk's parent company, Falk officials are working with the Milwaukee Police Department, the Milwaukee County District Attorney's office and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration to dig out and run tests on the warehouse building where the explosion occurred.

The current investigation supports early suspicions that a leaky propane tank in the warehouse caused the blast.

Investigators are trying to determine if there was any foul play and trying to find the explosion's ignition point, according to Anne E. Schwartz, public relations manager for MPD.

"We may never know," Schwartz said. "Almost everything was destroyed in the fire."

The blast occurred around 8 a.m. on Dec. 6. It left three workers dead and about 44 injured.

In a report to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, the company stated that while it has enough insurance to cover the accident, the true financial impact won't be known until well into the year.